Addressing Planning Challenges: Overcoming Regulatory Hurdles & Designing Coliving Spaces That Planners Love

Balancing Innovation and Compliance:

Nowadays, navigating the complex planning system in the UK, especially in densely populated cities like London, can feel like threading a needle in the dark. Coliving spaces are no exception. Despite their innovation and alignment with modern urban lifestyles, coliving developments still need to face planning authorities, and pass through multiple layers of regulatory, political and social challenges that can stall or even block planning approval.

The key here is to be aware of understanding the common policy requirements and knowing how to respond to their concerns in a way that aligns with both of the planning framework and community benefit. The challenge and opportunity is to show that the innovation of coliving doesn’t come at the cost of compliance or sustainability, by demonstrating how shared spaces and centralised management can build community within and around the development.

Why Coliving naturally delivers on sustainability:

One of most common local authorities concern about coliving projects is sustainability. It is no longer considered a nice to have asset, but a non-negotiable. From reducing carbon emissions to enhancing biodiversity, coliving projects are now expected to have high environmental performance as a standard.

Luckily, coliving spaces by their nature are well placed to deliver on this, not just in theory, but in actual measurable outcomes. From implementing features like green roofs, urban gardens and shared amenities, the centralised management style enables consistent and building wide sustainability practices, that otherwise wouldn’t be maintained in traditional housing over time.

Alongside heating and energy sustainability, coliving projects can also play a big role in reducing their carbon print by providing walkable access to public transports and making cycling roads easily accessible, residents are more inclined to follow a more sustainable path and reduce their carbon production if its convenient. Shared amenities also reduce the use of energy intensive home appliances across units. Communal landscape roofs and terraces also, these common spaces not only help the community by giving residents a space to bond, but also contribute to urban cooling and pollination.

Take for example the Collective Old Oak, North Acton, with over 500 residents sharing infrastructure; this pioneering project not only integrates highly efficient centralised heating, cooling and ventilation systems across the entire building, but also uses combined heat and power monitoring systems that enable real-time adjustments that reduce energy consumption per capita significantly compared to traditional housing units with individual boilers or units.

Community: The “Co” in Coliving Is a Policy Strength:

There is often concern about how a large residence will affect its neighbours. Planners and local councillors often worry that coliving encourages a transient lifestyle, with high turnover and little resident investment in the local area. This can lead to fears around community fragmentation, anti-social behaviour, and lack of neighbourhood cohesion.

Developers need to show how their project will contribute positively to the community. Shared event spaces, lounges and rooftop gardens aren’t just amenities, they’re a ground for building social connection by reducing social isolation and creating a long-lasting cohesive resident and neighbours experience. By supporting local businesses and renting out ground floor spaces for cafés, co-working spaces, art studios and gyms that are open to the public, these shared spaces can also be a perfect spot for organising and hosting community events that bring the residents together.

All these elements combined can be very beneficial to the community, increasing foot traffic and adding vibrancy to areas that might otherwise stay unused. Demonstrating to the planners that there is a clear investment in the neighbourhood can turn a neutral stance into strong support for a project.

Housing Targets: Density without sacrificing quality

One of the most crucial planning arguments for coliving is its ability to meet and support local housing delivery targets, especially in densely populated areas where space is tight and demand is high. Under the H16 policy of the London plan recognises coliving as a legitimate and forward-thinking form of housing, suited for well-connected dense urban locations.

For example a site that might yield 20 standard flats could deliver 80 to 100 coliving units thus dramatically increasing the number of residents, this particular argument is attractive to boroughs failing the housing delivery test and not meeting their housing targets, because they help close the gap quickly without compromise, and offer environmental, economic and social advantages.

A well-designed coliving space makes it possible to use land more efficiently and deliver higher quality private units with access to generous shared amenities, without compromising sustainability, community and livability. Combined with quality design and strong management, the proposal becomes a useful tool for both the council and the developer, for the council it improves statistics and avoids sanctions, and for the developer it offers a incentive lever in the planning process.

Confidence: The Make-or-Break Factor:

Finally, one of the most overlooked but critical elements in planning success is confidence in the operator. Local authorities are wary of schemes that sound good on paper but fall apart in reality. Coliving, with its non-traditional layout and shared amenities, brings additional risk in their eyes.

That’s why the management plan is arguably the most important document in the submission pack. A strong, detailed, enforceable plan shows how the development will be run in the long term while remaining clean, socially functional, and environmentally sound for years to come. It outlines maintenance protocols, behaviour policies, staffing, resident support, and more.

Coliving is not a loophole or a shortcut. It’s a forward-thinking housing solution that, when properly designed and presented, can speak directly to the priorities of modern planning policy.

From sustainability and housing delivery to placemaking and community cohesion, the foundations are already there.